Naruto: Fallen Leaves
by Chuckling-Ghost
Summary: A look at a possible near-absolute-worst case scenario for Konoha. At the end of the Third World War, Stone and Cloud launch a surprise last minute assault with three fully realized Jinchuriki. Six years later, Itachi kills all remaining Uchiha except for Obito and Rin. Now with scarcely two dozen people left in the Village, can Hidden Leaf make a return to glory? Naruto thinks so!
1. Prologue-Fallen Leaves

**Fallen Leaves**

==Hidden Leaf Village, End of the Third World War==

Killer Bee slunk out of the village after giving Yugito the all clear, the small bundle in his arms snoring cutely. As he topped a nearby mountain an hour later, he smiled down at Hinata's slumbering form as he shifted the weight of the sack of scrolls he had stolen from the Hyuga Estate on his back and finally indulged in a quiet rap as he looked back at the Hidden Leaf, "Don't you worry little sweet heart, ya new life with Cloud is about to start. You won't be alone, you'll have me and Yugito to help ya skills hone! Ya gonna be great, totally first rate! You'll be such a knockout, a real exploding tag, you'll never not have a good reason for you to brag. You'll be learnin from me, the one an' only Killer Bee!" He bounded away into the night with a grin so wide it could only be matched by the vastness of the heavens as he chuckled at his success. By the time Yugito, Han, Roshi and Onoki began their assault, Bee was far enough away with Hinata that the Tailed Beast Ball's impacts were nothing but a sound of distant thunder and flashes on the far distant horizon.

==Hidden Leaf Village, Six Years Later, Spring==

Itachi sighed at Sasuke's still form and then at the corpses of his parents. He shook his head, trying to keep the disgust from his eyes, "Pathetic. All that big talk and one man wipes them all out in less than an hour." Then a thought struck him and he pried open his parents' dead eyes and then Sasuke's, "Well would you look at that," Itachi breathed with shocked excitement, "All three…" Fifteen minutes later Itachi fled the Hidden Leaf, leaving the eyeless corpses of his parents and little brother behind him amid the graveyard that had once been his home. The first horrified shouts didn't ring out until dawn almost seven hours later.

==Hidden Sand Village, Same Year, Summer==

Gaara glared at the body of his uncle as his sand writhed around him. He turned in surprise as a voice spoke from behind him, "Good job kid. I'd say that was well deserved." Gaara saw a man with shoulder length blonde hair in a dark cloak with a sheathed katana in hand, resting it easily on his shoulder. Next to him was a little girl, and they were both, _smiling_ at him. "Who are you? Are you here to kill me too?" Gaara asked angrily. The man laughed and the little girl looked horrified at the thought, "I'll let my student answer that."

The little girl suddenly ran over, and completely heedless of the sand, enthusiastically shook Gaara's hand with a bright happy smile, "Hi! I'm Fuu! Will you be my friend? Mimasu-sensei thinks we'll have a lot in common!" Gaara stared in shock at the girl in front of him, "Friend?" "Yeah!" Fuu replied with a bright smile, "Come on! Let's go!" Gaara followed in a bit of a daze, and by dawn he was gone from Hidden Sand.

==The Land of Water, Same Year, Winter==

Haku stared after the pretty blue haired woman who had draped her coat around Haku's shoulders without a second thought despite the cold. The woman looked over her shoulder at Haku with a gentle smile, "Well? Aren't you coming?" Haku blinked and then nodded as a smile broke out over her face before running to catch up with Konan.

==Hidden Leaf Village, New Years Eve==

Minato sighed and poured a glass of the strongest sake that could be found in the ruin of what had once been the Hidden Leaf Village before passing the bottle around the table. All of Hidden Leaf's Jonin were present. All fifteen of them, sixteen if Minato was included. Only Kushina and Kurenai abstained in the interest of their pregnancies. Minato and Asuma drank theirs for them. When the bottle made it back to Minato, he raised his glass with a sad look in his eye, "To the new year." All drank and around went the bottle again, "To the Hidden Leaf." Another round, "To the Will of Fire." Once more and the bottle was emptied, "To those who have fallen." Not a single eye was dry as the sixteen leaders of the Fallen Leaf drank heavily.

"Damn Cloud and Stone," Yoshino Nara whispered as her husband's face flashed before her eyes. "Agreed," Inoichi muttered as the images of his family and best friends flashed before his. "Straight to hell," Iruka growled as tears poured in memory of his students.

==Meanwhile==

Naruto stood in front of the three memorial stones and glared at them. One was for those who had died the night of Hidden Cloud and Stone's triple Jinchuriki assault. The other was for those who had died in the wars prior to that. The third was the smallest, and it was engraved with the names of the all but two of Uchiha clan who had survived that catastrophic night save the one that had murdered them. An angry breath escaped through his nose, "We'll make this village great again." Behind him, Haku Yuki-Uzumaki, Kiba Inuzuka, Shikamaru Nara, Yumiko Hyuga and Sakura Haruno, the only children left in Hidden Leaf other than Obito and Rin's infant daughter Izana, nodded in unison.

List of Characters still alive and loyal to Hidden Leaf:

Minato, Kushina and Naruto Namikaze

Kakashi Hatake

Obito, Rin and Izana Uchiha

Ibiki Morino

Anko Mitarashi and her adoptive daughters Sakura Haruno and Yumiko Hyuga

Yahiko and his adoptive son Kiba Inuzuka

Nagato and Konan Uzumaki and their adoptive daughter Haku Yuki-Uzumaki

Jiraiya

Yoshino and Shikamaru Nara

Inoichi Yamanaka

Asuma and Kurenai Sarutobi

Iruka Umino

Teuchi and Ayame Ichiraku


	2. Chapter1: At the Bottom of the Heap

Chapter 1 – At The Bottom Of The Heap

==The Next Morning==

"So Dad," Naruto said around a mouthful of food, "When do we start training?" Every adult at the table froze, and every kid at the table suddenly riveted their eyes to Minato. Minato tried to laugh it off, "Training? Training for what?" " _Ninja_ training Dad," Naruto pressed, "We're ninja of the Hidden Leaf village. We need training to make the village great again." The adults flinched in unison. "Well ah, Kushina! Would you um explain?" Kushina cast a dark glare at her husband for being put on the spot, then she picked up a roll and started buttering it. "You're not ninja, and you're not going to be. We're all retired," she declared matter-of-factly.

There was silence for a few minutes as the adults clenched whatever they were holding and if it could be crushed in hand it was. The kids just stared in open mouthed shock and horror. Then Kiba started laughing, "Oh yeah, good joke Mrs. Kushina! Seriously though, shouldn't we have started by now?" Kushina's hair seemed to levitate, giving away her fury as she struggled not to explode. Yahiko gently laid a hand on Kiba's shoulder, "She's not joking son." There was a long silence after that.

Yumiko's head was resting on her hands and then she said quietly, "Bullshit." Everyone's head snapped around to look at her and Kushina's eyes narrowed dangerously. Yumiko took a deep breath and repeated herself, "Bullshit." She raised her pale blue eyes to look around the table and met Kushina's fearsome gaze head on, "We may be at the bottom of the heap after Cloud and Stone sucker-punched us nearly to oblivion, but the key word in that sentence is _nearly_. We're still here, and even if all of you have given up, we're still going to fight. Train us, or try to stop us and fail, but we will make this village great again, and if you want to stop us, you'll have to kill us. We are the future of the Hidden Leaf, and we refuse to be known as the generation that let the greatest of all the Hidden Villages die of its wounds. Now Naruto will you _please_ get over your highly justified terror of your mother's wrath and back me up with some of that fire you were spitting last night rather than make me repeat your whole speech?"

Now most of the adults were trying their hardest not to laugh as Kushina turned a death glare on a suddenly very pale Naruto and her chakra ignited around her in a flickering crimson aura, "And just what fire were you spitting exactly Naruto?" The glare down extended on for what seemed like several minutes as Naruto seemed to shrink more and more every second. Then there was an almost audible snap as he broke through some wall in his head. Suddenly the apparent shrinking was not only gone, it was reversed as Naruto surged to his feet and his own chakra erupted around him, "I SAID EVERY WORD OF THAT AND MORE," he declared loudly.

"We are the Village Hidden in the Leaves, the first and greatest of all the Hidden Villages, and we're not dead yet! That means we're obligated to those who have fallen to bring this village back to the top, make Cloud and Stone pay for what they did to our loved ones, hunt down Itachi and make him pay for what he did to Sasuke and his family, and be good enough shinobi to carry on their dreams so that their ghosts can rest in peace! Lords First Second and Third, Madara and every other great ninja this village has ever turned out, the ones who gave their lives and everything they had to make us great and keep us on top, they're _all_ rolling in their graves right now because we're dishonoring their wishes and all their hard work letting everything they build rot and fade away rather than doing everything in our power to rebuild! Has your Will of Fire gone completely out?! You are some of the strongest shinobi in the world and your children have had to teach themselves your techniques because you're too whipped by your fear of…" Kushina suddenly had him in a headlock, "WHAT DID YOU SAY?! I AM NOT AFRAID!"

"YES YOU ARE!" Naruto yelled back, "EVERY ONE OF YOU IS AFRAID OF LOSING US! OF ONE OF US BEING THE NEXT NAME ON ONE OF THOSE STONES OUT THERE!" Kushina's grip actually went slack in shock as Naruto hit the nail on the head for her and every other adult at the table. Naruto quickly slipped out of the head lock, "That's why you don't want us to be shinobi! You're scared you'll lose us the way we all lost everything else the night of the attack! But you can't stop us from being shinobi! It's in our blood and our spirits! NOW!" Half a dozen Rasengans formed and hurtled towards the table almost too fast to see.

If Kakashi and Obito hadn't leapt onto the table and managed to stop three of them apiece, the table would've been utterly annihilated. "Please no smashing the breakfast for the sake of revolution," Kakashi pleaded with an innocent smile, "I'm not done eating yet." It was a very interesting position he and Obito were in, both were balanced on their heads and one foot over the breakfast, otherwise spread eagled with a hand cradling a fully formed Rasengan caught by the wrist in both hands and on their shins. "The breakfast is not at fault!" Obito declared frantically as little Izana laughed at her seeing her father and funny uncle in such a funny position, blissfully unaware of the significance of what she'd just seen.

Obito and Kakashi, in fear for their breakfast, were a few seconds behind everyone else realizing what had happened. Every one of the children they had tried so hard to keep from growing up to be like them had mastered an A-Rank technique that required control on a level even most Jonin didn't have. The simple action of using the Rasengan had proved their case more thoroughly than any amount of arguing or debate could have, there was no turning them from the path they had started down.

Kushina stepped back in horror as she saw her beloved son's face mirror the face Minato wore to war, "Minato…" Minato stood and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, "It's alright Kushi." His face grim, he turned to the determined young faces before him, "Kids, step outside so we can discuss this." They all looked like they were about to dig in and stubbornly refuse, then Naruto nodded as a look of understanding passed between father and son. "Let's go," Naruto declared as he turned and headed for the door, his five best friends hot on his heels.

Kakashi back flipped back into his seat, "Hey Minato-Sensei, I think Naruto's gonna be the Fifth Hokage." Kushina buried her face in Minato's shoulder as the terrified sobs started.

==Outside==

Yumiko patted Naruto on the back, "Good job in there, Fearless Leader." Naruto nodded silently and Shikamaru shuddered, "Man Naruto, I had forgotten how scary your mom is." "Do you think it worked?" Sakura asked with the vaguest hint of worry. Yumiko and Kiba both nodded, "They're talking themselves around to it right now," Kiba declared. "It's nice to have someone who cares enough to worry about us," Haku said quietly as she looked up at the sky, "Even if it does lead to things like this. They want so bad to protect us, and we want nothing more than to be strong enough to protect them. It's nice." Everyone smiled at her.

Naruto reached a snap decision, "Alright, Haku is much too gentle to be a frontline shinobi. Haku, when I'm Hokage, I'm naming you head of the Medic Corps." Haku blinked in surprise and turned to look at him, then a broad sunny smile split her face, "Thank you Naruto, I'd like that." Yumiko propped an elbow on Naruto's shoulder and crunched an apple she had grabbed on her way out, "You're making me head of ANBU right?" Naruto looked up at the girl he considered an older sister with a smile, "If you want it it's yours." Yumiko swallowed and grinned a big toothy smile, "Good!"

"What about the rest of us?!" Kiba exclaimed. Naruto pointed to him, "Head of Hunter Nin and Law Enforcement," Naruto's finger swung to Shikamaru, "Jonin Commander," Then to Sakura, "Academy Head and Head of Assignment." They all blinked surprised unison at the swiftness and firmness of his declaration and then they all grinned broadly as they realized he had given them each jobs they were perfectly suited to.

==Inside==

Kakashi nodded and spread his hands in a there-you-have-it gesture, "I rest my case. Fifth Hokage." Minato rested his forehead on his thumbs and took a deep breath to steady himself against what they had just seen with the Crystal Ball Jutsu he had conjured over the table. There were several minutes of silence and then, "We can't stop them," Minato said quietly. He rose, trying his hardest to ignore Kushina's horrified expression, "So we will train them. We will make them stronger than we ever were and we will never let them suffer as we have. They are our children, and we owe it to them to give them everything we can. Our fear is not theirs, and we should not allow our emotions to hold them back from the greatness they will achieve."

He bowed his head, "I know it's hard. After what happened, I never wanted Naruto, or any of them, to ever have to face battle. I never wanted it to even cross their minds." He lowered his head and smirked slightly, "Before the attack, I had planned to teach Naruto the Rasengan when he graduated the Academy. Now he's gone and mastered it on his own at the ripe old age of seven and taught it to all his friends without any of us even noticing." He raised his head and there was a firm light in his eyes, "Now I see that if we try to hold them back as they push forward toward destiny, we'll only weigh them down. That is unacceptable and I will settle for nothing less than the best for our children. Even if they are the smallest generation Hidden Leaf has ever seen, they will be the greatest. We will put aside our fear and the pain of the past. We will train our children to the greatest heights we can. We will give them the trust they place in us, and become the shinobi we used to be. Who's with me?!"

There was a unanimous chorus of approval and Kushina stared as it hit her and everyone else at the same time. For the first time since the attack, Minato was standing tall. Outside Naruto smiled and an upwelling of pride surged through him as he subtly watched through the window, "The Fourth Hokage is _back_."

==Village Hidden in the Stones, Tsuchikage's Residence==

Deidara and Kurotsuchi blinked in surprise as Onoki suddenly stopped mid-sentence and broke out in a cold sweat as his eyes widened. "Grandpa?" Deidara started. "You okay?" Kurotsuchi finished. Onoki shook his head, "Just a feeling." Inside though he trembled slightly with fear and hatred, _No…he CAN'T be alive…_ "Captain!" He barked. A Hidden Stone ANBU Captain appeared and kneeled next to the Tsuchikage's breakfast table, "Sir?" "Take a team and go comb the ruins of the Hidden Leaf Village. If so much as a mouse moves, make sure it doesn't do it again." The Captain nodded, as much of a reputation for paranoia as the Third Tsuchikage had, most of the shadows he jumped at and blew up actually did have assassins or dissidents in them. Onoki looked up at his favorite picture as the ANBU Captain flickered and disappeared. It was a massive painting done from a picture of the smoldering crater that had once been the Hidden Leaf Village and Onoki tried to take some small assurance in it to quell the worry suddenly gnawing in his gut, _nobody could've survived that…_

==Hidden Leaf Village==

Half an hour later Naruto and the others looked up as the adults filed out and lined up. Minato was the last out and stood in the center of the line. A faint worry flashed through Naruto's mind as he saw that his mother had stayed inside. Then Minato spoke, "Welcome to the Hidden Leaf Village Shinobi Academy. The road ahead of you will be long, difficult and fraught with danger. To be a shinobi is to dance with death on a daily basis. If knowing that you are still willing to walk this path, then we will begin." The six nodded and Ibiki barked, "ONE HUNDRED PUSHUPS NOW!"

All six blinked in surprise and an instant later dropped and started doing their pushups. "TOO SLOW! ON YOUR FEET!" The six took almost a full minute to scramble back upright and Ibiki stalked down the line, glaring each of them in the eye as he walked. When he got to the end of the line, he stalked on past and stopped, staring off into the distance. He sighed heavily, "We've got a looong way to go."

==That Night==

Minato sighed as he paused at the door to his and Kushina's room. The kids were green, there was no doubt about that. They were greener than the greenest of grass. They wanted it more than anything though, and they had made it through the whole day without a single complaint. Ibiki had actually admitted to being impressed once the six had been sent inside for dinner. Things were looking very good for their odds of making up for lost time and becoming ninja just as good as if they had started at the Academy on time two years earlier, five in Haku and Yumiko's case.

There was just one thing bothering him now. Kushina had adamantly refused to be a part of their training, and had been gone from the table by the time Minato had poked his head back in to check on her. He braced himself for a flood of tears, recriminations and definitely no fun at all, and pushed open the door gently, "Kushi? You in here?" The reply shocked him.

Kushina _purred_. Minato poked his head in and saw Kushina sitting on the bed holding something up to the light. Her ears had turned into a fox's and she had a fox tail swishing behind her with a broad grin on her face and a great deal of fabric and sewing materials spread all over her desk. She wasn't looking at him, but Minato's heart still stopped at the sight of her smile just like it had the first time he'd seen it. "Minato," she called quietly, "Come look." Minato stepped in and walked over to examine what she was holding and blinked as he saw that it was a cloak, long sleeved unlike his, and darker in its colors, but otherwise very much the same.

Minato's eyes widened as it dawned on him, "Is that…?" "Do you think he'll like it?" Minato nodded, "He'll love it." He looked at the inside and noticed a number of stitches, "You gave it an inner layer of seals too?" Kushina stuck her tongue out at him, "Of course I did! I don't want him to be a shinobi, but if he insists on it so much then at the very least I'm going to make sure he's got the best protection I can give him!" Minato's eyes traced the dozens of small designs he could see stitched into the inner layer of the cloak, "What all did you put into this?"

Kushina huffed and then sighed, "I guess there's no point hiding it anymore." She pulled a small book out of the desk drawer and handed it to him. Minato blinked in surprise, "Your diary?" "Open it," Kushina grumbled. Minato did and his eyebrows jumped behind his bangs, the entire diary was nothing but seals and notes on them! "You've been working on these every night? Is this why you didn't want me to see what you'd written?"

Kushina wouldn't meet his gaze, "Old habit. I've been filling diaries like that one with seals since I was a little girl. I pulled all the best ones I had at the time and lined your cloak with them when I made it." Minato blinked in surprise. He hadn't known that, but now that he thought about it, it did explain why he had always felt invincible in that cloak. Kushina smiled, "So I did the same for Naruto's cloak. Sorry, but his is a little bit better than yours. I've gotten better in the last ten years." She placed a hand on the seven month old bulge in her stomach, "When Ryuko's old enough, if she follows us down the path of a shinobi, then I'll make a cloak for her too."

Kushina sighed and looked down at the cloak in her hands, "I'll teach them everything I can about seals. Once we know what they're going to excel at and be doing, I'll make cloaks for them as well. We're all family, I'll make cloaks for everyone in between teaching the kids." Minato pouted slightly, "What if I want the cloaks to be a special family thing?" "Then you can suck it up because _I_ didn't want my family to ever see a battlefield again!" Kushina snapped. Minato flinched slightly and then smiled, "Fair enough." "Damn right it is!" Kushina growled. Then she averted her gaze and muttered, "But since you put it like that, maybe I'll make them something other than cloaks. Masks or armor or something. It's been a long time since I've done any wood work, maybe it's time I started doing it aga-Mmm?!"

Minato cut her off with a kiss, which she returned after a minute. When they came up for air Minato smiled, "Have I mentioned recently how amazing you are?" Kushina blushed slightly and smiled, "You could stand to mention it more often." Minato proceeded to kiss her repeatedly and tell her "I love you," between every kiss as she giggled.

==Three Weeks Later==

The Hidden Stone ANBU captain reported back to Onoki, "All clear sir. There's nothing living within twenty miles of the lake that's formed in the crater, and there's still so much dangerous chakra in the area from the death of the Nine Tails and its Jinchuriki that we need seals and jutsu to even get close. It's so strong that the lake is constantly boiling, and even with our seals and jutsu to protect us from it, we still all sustained significant burns just from being in the area. Nothing could possibly be living there or anywhere close."

Onoki nodded, his sense of paranoia mostly relieved, "Very good."

==Hidden Leaf==

Yoshino Nara pointed to the map she had stuck to a wall with a couple of kunai, "As you all know, we recently obtained schematics for almost the entirety of Hidden Stone and the surrounding area. Congratulations once again to all of you on your first successful interrogations! Ibiki, Inoichi and Anko all re-interrogated your subjects independently and all three got the same results you did. Now let's discuss how we can use this information to tear Hidden Stone apart when the time comes. Kurenai Inoichi and Obito worked together to lay a triple layer genjutsu on the Hidden Stone ANBU we captured, and Kushina laid a seal to keep the genjutsu operational, so we won't have to worry about them reporting anything but misinformation and that we're all dead. So we will most likely have the element of complete surprise on our side…"


	3. Chapter 2: The Fire Lord

Chapter 2 – The Fire Lord

==Three Days Later==

Minato appeared in the Daimyo's palace using a marker he had placed there nearly ten years earlier after his inauguration as Hokage and was surprised to find that his marker had been moved. He now appeared directly in the study of the Lord of the Land of Fire. Said Fire Lord was not who Minato was expecting. Yuuki Subete hadn't been young. The young man at Yuuki's desk looked up as Minato appeared, and Minato was struck by how unsettling the steady dark blue gaze was, "Welcome back Lord Hokage. It's been a long time. I trust you've been unwell?"

Minato blinked in confusion, "Why would you trust that I've been unwell?" "Because if you hadn't been unwell then I would've expected Cloud and Stone to be rubble by now," the young Fire Lord replied before looking down and examining some papers, "I do hope that's as very much on your agenda as it is mine. I lost my father that night, you lost nearly your entire village. How are Lady Kushina and Naruto by the way?" Minato blinked as the young man scratched out some notes, "You knew we were alive and never sent anybody to check on us?"

The young samurai looked up, "Lord Hokage I've been by to check on you personally several times. I haven't bothered you because I was unsure if you and the other survivors would be willing to take up arms to avenge your home. I assume you are here today to tell me one way or another, so please," he smiled, "Don't make me wait any longer." Minato nodded, trying not to make it obvious that he was more than a little disturbed by the man's claim to have 'been by several times', "We're done wallowing in our self-pity and loss. We began training the children New Years Day."

The Fire Lord nodded, "Very good. Do you have room for a few more new recruits? I've had them under the tutelage of myself and the strongest shinobi I could find outside of Hidden Leaf for several months. They are about the same age as the children left in Hidden Leaf, and I think they'll probably fit right in." Minato blinked in surprise and then nodded, "Of course, the more the merrier." The Fire Lord nodded, "Grandfather, kids, you can come in now!"

Minato stepped back in surprise as Kakuzu of the Hidden Waterfall walked in with four children of varying ages. The first was a young man who looked like he was about the same age as Yumiko and Haku with a shock of white hair and maroon eyes who bore an eerie resemblance to the pictures Minato had seen of the Second Hokage. Next was a girl of similar age with long dark hair and green eyes, followed by a very dusty boy with red hair and a little girl with green hair and brown eyes. The Fire Lord smiled, "Lord Hokage, meet Kai and Himitsu Senju, Gaara and Fuu."

Minato stepped back in shock as he realized what was off about the Fire Lord as he stood up and extended his hand, "By the way, I think I forgot to introduce myself, I am Mimasu Subete."

==Two Hours Later==

Minato sat down at the head of the table with the unofficial Leaf Council around him, "The Fire Lord is the Jinchuriki of the Six Tailed Serpent." Everyone stared at him as he looked out the window towards where the kids were getting acquainted with their new friends, "And Gaara and Fuu are Jinchuriki as well. Gaara's the Great Tanuki and Fuu is the Great Mantis." Everyone else swapped stunned glances. Obito quickly counted on his fingers, "That means we have more than Cloud and Stone put together!" "How did he amass two extra Jinchuriki and become one himself? Let alone the Jinchuriki of the Great Serpent? That was the one stuck in Orochimaru!" Every head at the table snapped around to look at Jiraiya, "Orochimaru was a Jinchuriki?!"

Jiraiya nodded, "He didn't like to publicize it because he knew it would make him a target, but come on, how did you _think_ he got that snakey? Anyway, back to the question at hand, how did he manage to take Orochimaru's Tailed Beast? Extracting a Tailed Beast from its Jinchuriki is lethal to the Jinchuriki, so how did he take down Orochimaru?" Minato looked up, "His maternal grandfather is Kakuzu, Hidden Waterfall's most infamous and powerful missing-nin. Offhand, I'd guess Mimasu knows Kakuzu's Earth Grudge Fear and used that to rip Orochimaru's heart out and graft the seal onto some part of himself. Given the Earth Grudge Fear's ability to impart the chakra of its victims upon the user, it seems the most likely answer."

Anko sat forward and buried her face in her hands, "This Mimasu guy owes me a kill." Minato sighed, "That's not all." He pulled two scrolls from a pocket of his flak jacket, and set them on the table. He opened one to reveal a seal and quickly released the contents. Everyone sprang back in shock as the decapitated bloody and eyeless head popped out. "He also took the heart and eyes of Itachi Uchiha."

==Meanwhile==

Mimasu took a drink of sake, "You suppose they'll take us seriously now?" Kakuzu nodded as he pulled another card from the deck, "They'll have to. We just proved we beat their two strongest missing-nin, stole the Jinchuriki of Hidden Sand and Waterfall, and presented them with the heirs of two of their founders." Mimasu smiled as he looked down at the city below, a city which had in all actuality begun the process of gearing up for war five years ago, "Now we just wait for the moment to strike."

"Dammit!" Kakuzu's opponent swore as he won another hand. Mimasu laughed, "Lady Tsunade, have you considered returning to Konoha?" Tsunade shot him a glare, "Not happening. I'm chief of the medical corps. I'll send Shizune, but I'm not going back there. I may send them a note, but that's it." Mimasu smiled slightly, "If you say so."

==Hidden Leaf==

"So he's been recruiting missing-nin from around the world since the war ended and he's using them to raise an army capable of taking on Cloud and Stone?" Minato nodded, "He's recruited numerous samurai as well. He claims his effective fighting forces are currently at over a hundred warriors who by his generals' estimates are capable of combatting chunin on an equal footing in taijutsu. He's got thousands more waiting to be trained and says that in ten years he'll be ready to march on and crush Cloud and Stone. He wants us to train the kids as much as we can and be an elite recon and assault force to get where his troops won't be able to and deal with Cloud and Stone's strongest. He also says he plans to take on the Cloud and Stone Jinchuriki himself. I suspect he plans to take their Tailed Beasts for himself the way he did Orochimaru."

There was a round of worried looks, "How many hearts can he steal? And can his body withstand that?" Minato shook his head, "I don't know. He's already arguably one of the most dangerous men in the world, I can't even imagine how powerful he would be if he had the power of five Tailed Beasts at once." Minato looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully, "Even one makes him a force capable of leveling cities by himself. With five he'd be arguably unstoppable. That and the Great Tanuki and Mantis are essentially his adoptive children." He sighed, "Can we really afford to have a man like that in the world? Can we even prevent it?"

Kushina reached over and smacked him gently, "Enough of that self-doubting shit. He's just a man, and there's no guarantee that he's even planning to turn himself into some twenty five tails jinchuriki or that he would have any chance in hell of surviving even if he did. If he becomes a problem, we'll deal with him." Minato blinked at his wife in surprise and then nodded, "You're right. For now, we'll go along with him. He's our best chance of winning right now."

==The Capitol==

"You know they'll probably think you're planning to turn yourself into some sort of super Jinchuriki to take over the world," Tsunade said as she drew another card. Mimasu nodded, "I'm aware of that. If it weren't for the fact I know it would kill me I'd be tempted to try it too." Tsunade snorted with laughter, "You're such a pathetic and hopeless romantic. You've met her once and she was there to kill you!" Mimasu sighed, "Yes and that led to a very nice dinner and unquestionably one of the best nights of my life." "You're still an idiot to take those four on just to make sure she's taken alive." Mimasu smiled, "Maybe, but she's worth the risk." Tsunade snorted, "You're as bad as Jiraiya."

Mimasu smiled, "I'll take that as a complement, and besides, if the four of them are busy trying to beat me, our four can focus on thinning the enemy's numbers." Tsunade rolled her eyes, "Arrogant brat." "Arrogant but careful and trained by the best, _Sensei_ ," Mimasu grinned over his shoulder, "And you shouldn't be so derisive of Jiraiya. He's clearly in love with you, and love isn't something that should be just tossed aside out of hand." "How do suppose the kids are getting on?" Tsunade asked, clearly eager to change the subject.

"They're probably making those Leaf kids very angry that their parents haven't been training them," Kakuzu replied with a small smirk.

==Hidden Leaf==

Yumiko was utterly mortified as she watched Kai and Himitsu spar. This was the level she would've been at if they had been allowed to start training at the right age? Haku was blushing slightly with embarrassment at the expert control Himitsu had over her kekkai genkai as she wondered if Ice Release was as powerful as Wood Release. The younger kids were all watching utterly enraptured as the two went at it full tilt. Kai's chain blades were little more than a blur of steel as water raged around the battle field at his command and Himitsu's ability to keep him at bay with her tremendous gunbai that she used like a broadsword and Wood Release was insane.

The fight went for several minutes and their battle field was totally wrecked in their wake. It didn't end until Himitsu managed to pin Kai with her gunbai at his throat. Kai grinned, "Another draw." The Leaf kids stared, "Huh?" "That's not a draw! She's got you pinned to the ground and her weapon at your throat!" Kiba exclaimed. Himitsu smiled, "Yeah, but check out the battlefield. Notice what he's lying in?" They all looked at Kai and realization dawned on them as they saw the water all around him, "So what? He can't use any hand signs without getting past you!"

"I can't bring my hands together," Kai corrected, "I can still do the signs, it just won't be as sturdy a jutsu." There were some skeptical looks and he sighed, "Oh ye of little faith, fine, watch this. _**Water Style, Water Dragon Bullet!**_ " He made a handsign and all the water on the field transformed into a four-meter long python like dragon that proceeded to sweep away all the debris on the field. Kai released the jutsu, his point proven. Himitsu got off him and helped him up. He turned to face them with a smile, "Water Dragon Bullet isn't my strongest jutsu, but it's in the top three right now, and even a moderate jutsu at point blank range like that can kill."

Yumiko and Haku both found themselves trying to decide whether Kai's skills and good looks made him annoying or hot. Yumiko was leaning towards annoying and Haku was blushing slightly as Kai studied her a little more closely, "Hey, do you have a kekkai genkai? Your elemental affinity feels like a mix of wind and water, except really cold. Is it Ice Release?" Haku blinked and then nodded, blushing even more as Kai grinned, "That's so cool! I can't wait to see it!"

 **AN:** _Yes, Orochimaru and Itachi are both dead. Sorry fans of the weasel and snake. Mimasu is actually more dangerous than the two of them combined, especially now that he has their powers, and hopefully he will be even more awesome an anti-hero than they would've been as villains for this story._

 _As to who he was talking about, you'll just have to wait and see, but I can go ahead and tell you that it's a likely end pairing._

 _Don't worry, we'll be seeing more of Tsunade, Kakuzu and Mimasu's other generals. If anyone has any preferences for who his missing-nin generals should be, feel free to leave suggestions in the comments/reviews!_

 _For those wondering, Himitsu and Kai are cousins, not siblings. Kai is the great grandson of the Second Hokage, and Himitsu is a descendant of the First and Second Hokages' brother and the Uchiha woman who seduced and killed him back during the Warring States period (yes she does have the Sharingan). The reason nobody knew about either of them is that their parents were missing-nin._

 _Yes Kai was not so subtly inspired by Kung Fu Panda 3 because I feel like General Kai was really not done justice as a villain._


	4. Chapter 3: Basically Shinobi

Chapter 3 – Basically Shinobi

==Two Weeks Later==

Yumiko was decidedly unamused as Fuu had flattened her in their sparring match earlier that day. Not even Himitsu, who was the same age as Yumiko, _Fuu_ who was three years younger than her and tiny and adorable to boot, had demolished her! Yumiko was the best fighter of any of the Leaf kids and she knew it, so to be beaten by someone half her size was infuriating. Now she sat in one of her favorite trees glaring out at the surface of the lake cursing the rotten luck that had befallen Hidden Leaf and led to her not being trained for so long.

"So grumpy britches," Anko said as she appeared to materialize next to Yumiko who jumped half out of her skin, "Why the long face?" Yumiko quickly got her pulse back under control, "I know why we weren't taught," she said quietly, "but for little Fuu to be a competent shinobi while I'm not is infuriating." Anko sat there in silence for a while with her adoptive daughter, "You mastered the three basic techniques right? Substitution Transformation and Clone?"

Yumiko nodded and looked at Anko out the corner of her eye. "Well then," Anko said with a smile, "If you've mastered the basics then you're _basically_ a shinobi. I guess I've been falling down on the job. Come on, let's go grab Sakura and I'll show you how to use those techniques properly. That's something those new kids don't do, and I bet it'll surprise the hell out of them when you beat them with D-Rank techniques." Yumiko stared and then a grin spread across her face.

==Half an Hour Later==

Anko stood before her daughters, "Now then, it has come to my attention that while we may have shown you the official way to use the basic three jutsu, we didn't show you the advanced uses. So you might be thinking they're useless. They're not. Observe the training dummy." "So this is why you kidnapped me and tied me up," Kakashi said in a bored tone, "And here I thought this might be fun."

Anko replied by throwing a kunai at him, pulling a substitution with the kunai at the last instant and slamming a kick into his gut before catching the kunai out of the air and burying it in the tree he was tied to. That Kakashi erupted into a burst of smoke when Anko hit him was irrelevant. The real Kakashi smiled as he poked his head around the tree, "And that girls is why substitution and clone jutsus are good things to know."

"Exactly," Anko agreed, "What makes a shinobi really good is maximizing the potential of every technique in their arsenal. That's a lot of the difference between a chunin and a genin. Kakashi here knows over a thousand jutsu, but he doesn't use any of them to anywhere near their full potential." "I do too," Kakashi pouted. "You do not and you know it," Anko retorted cheerfully, "Which brings us to the point of the matter: using ten jutsu to a hundred percent of their capacity is just as good as using a thousand jutsu at one percent. You're smart girls, I'm sure you can do the math."

"And," she added with a grin, "Something I've noticed is that while the new kids may be more proficient with their jutsu and better trained to fight, they're not nearly as creative as they could be. Look at Kai, the only thing I've seen him do is use those chain blades and his water jutsu, or the way Gaara relies way too much on his sand. Take those away and they've got nothing. They've trained a bit for battle strategy, but none of those four would be worth anything as assassins or spies. Even if I didn't know that they had been trained to be frontline fighters and nothing else it would be totally obvious! At this point, they're jutsu slinging samurai, not shinobi." Yumiko and Sakura stared at the declaration and Anko grinned, "So, wanna see how real shinobi fight?"

A moment later Anko and Kakashi set up across from each other as Yumiko and Sakura sat and watched eagerly. Anko pointed a finger at Kakashi, "I'm going to win this fight with ten jutsu or less to prove my point. So bring on your entire arsenal, I'm ready." Kakashi sighed, "okay then." He disappeared immediately and Anko closed her eyes, lashing out an instant later and sending the invisible Kakashi flying. Kakashi's Transparent Escape Jutsu flickered out as he slammed against the tree and he quickly flashed through a set of hand signs. A massive earthen dragon erupted into being and lunged at Anko. Anko dodged and through a kunai as Kakashi blew out a massive fireball that took the shape of a dragon's head at her. Just before the fireball could make contact Anko pulled a substitution with the kunai she had thrown. She reappeared on the tree branch the kunai had been buried in and two more kunai flickered out of her sleeves into her hands.

She Body Flickered forward and quickly engaged in a knife fight with Kakashi who immediately tried to gain an advantage by streaming wind chakra down one kunai and lightning down the other. Anko sprang back and threw one of her kunai. Kakashi dodged it and Anko substituted with it just in time to clothesline Kakashi and slam him into the ground. She sprang away before his kunai could slice into her and lashed out with her Hidden Shadow Snake Hands.

The serpents slammed into the ground where Kakashi's head had been and were immediately stuck in a sticky mud pit. Kakashi sprang back and Anko launched a dozen kunai at him. Kakashi threw up an earth wall and Anko substituted her snakes with the kunai. The snakes easily slithered around the earthen wall and Anko quickly substituted with one of them, striking with a kick and dispelling the water clone behind the earth wall. Anko flattened herself against the wall just in time for Kakashi to lunge out of it and try to catch her in a strangle hold. All this got him was a snake wrapped around his head.

As Kakashi struggled to free himself from the snake Anko sprang back and flashed through the signs for another jutsu. Just as Kakashi threw the snake away a huge fireball shaped like a dragon's head rocketed towards him. Kakashi Body Flickered out of the way and Anko was on him again just as fast. Kakashi cloaked himself in lightning armor and Anko sprang back, quickly dodging the air bullets he spat at her. She suddenly substituted with a kunai she had dropped at Kakashi's feet and slammed a kick into Kakashi where it hurt. Kakashi sprang as he saw her land and was thus spared the worst of the blow, but then he had to substitute away to dodge Anko's point blank dragon flame jutsu. As fast as he was he was still burned. Anko followed him with the dragon flame and he quickly spewed out a massive water blast, clouding the entire clearing in steam.

Because of the tremendous clash of their jutsu, Kakashi didn't see Anko make a clone and body flicker away as soon as the steam erupted. So when he used Hidden Mist's Silent Killing Technique to sneak up on her, all he did was tell Anko exactly where he was for her dragon flame. A lot of the steam was blown away in wake of the blast, and what was left quickly became a water dragon that plowed through the last vestiges of Anko's dragon flame and sheared off the branch she was perched on.

He might've gotten her if Anko hadn't substituted with her clone at the last second and launched a flurry of shuriken at him. Kakashi quickly blew the shuriken off course with a wind blast and rocketed forward, whirling a Rasengan into existence as he charged. Before he could even get close Anko was gone again, substituted with one of her shuriken. Kakashi twisted and substituted with another shuriken as Anko threw a kunai at him. Then even as he was reappearing where the shuriken had been, Anko substituted with the kunai she had thrown and yanked a handful of nearly invisibly thin wires, sending all her shuriken flying back towards her. Before Kakashi could ponder the move, Anko had substituted with him and he was caught right in the path of the shuriken with no time to dodge.

He put his Rasengan in front of him and let it fly apart, turning it into a small brief maelstrom of chakra that deflected all the shuriken, but not the massive fire ball that came behind it. Kakashi substituted with one of the shuriken he had just deflected and was just barely managed to block Anko's kick as she substituted with one next to it. Before he could capitalize on it Anko substituted again, this time appearing under him, and slammed him into the ground on his chest before yanking his head up by the hair and sticking a kunai under his throat.

Kakashi put his hands over his head, "Ok, you win." Anko grinned and sat up but didn't get off his back, "And _that_ girls is why using lots of big flashy jutsu is not a good thing. They eat a shit ton of chakra, and thus you can run out of chakra before your opponent, which is what happened to Kakashi just now. He could keep going and if this were a real fight he'd have to, but he doesn't want to risk chakra exhaustion because he'd be incapacitated for at least a few days. A jinchuriki could get away with it since they usually have almost superhuman chakra levels, but most people's chakra can't take the strain of using that many huge jutsu like that. The big techniques also take longer to sign out, so it slows you down. If you use low powered jutsu effectively you can fight for much longer, and it makes guys like Kakashi here with their huge arsenals of super destructive jutsu utterly furious when they get stomped by someone using nothing but low level jutsu."

A voice laughed from the tree line, "It's good to see some things never change." Anko hopped up and Kakashi was on his feet immediately. A woman with short dark hair in a dull black kimono walked out of the trees with a smile before pausing and putting a hand on her hip as she contemplated their confused expressions, "Oh come on, don't tell me you don't recognize me!" It took the two a minute and then they stared, "Shizune?!"

==Ten minutes later==

The first thing Jiraiya did was grab Shizune by the shoulders and almost in a panic demand to know if Tsunade was alright. Shizune smiled nervously, she had not been expecting that, "Of course she is! She's in the capitol running the army's new Medical Corps!" Jiraiya and everyone else stared at her, "Medical…corps?" Jiraiya asked as if the words were completely foreign to him. "Yeah," Shizune smiled, "She's become quite the terror in the capitol. Everyone knows her on sight now and they all walk on eggshells around her. It's a lot like how I remember the village being before we left."

Jiraiya stared, "Kids I'm going to the capitol!" Shizune held up a hand, "Whoa now! Lady Tsunade said for you to absolutely not do that!" Jiraiya shot her a look that would've made most people backpedal as quickly as they could, "Come again?" Shizune took out a scroll, checked to make sure it's the right one and handed it to him, "Straight from her to you." Jiraiya accepted the scroll and opened it, immediately recognizing Tsunade's messy scrawl.

 _Jiraiya,_

 _You've probably found out by now that Orochimaru's dead. I helped with that and made sure he suffered appropriately for betraying us._

 _I'm not coming back. I heard about what happened, and I've sent you Shizune. I'm in the capitol, and Mimasu has granted me full permission and whatever I need to organize and train a medical corps like I always wanted to do in Hidden Leaf. Needless to say, I'm not leaving._

 _If you come running up here to harass me, I will kick you right back to Hidden Leaf and I guarantee your feet will not touch the ground between here and there. Shizune's given me reports on the state of what's left, and you need to get those kids in shape. Train the kids we sent you as well. They're good fighters, but they're not shinobi. Not yet. You can bring them to see me when they and the kids that are actually from the Leaf are all chunin level. You had better bring them with you as proof when you do come. If you come early, you had better be dying or you will be._

 _Give everyone a hug for me, don't you dare be a pervert when you do it or Shizune has full permission to poison you in my stead._

The letters "Lo" and the start of a "v" had been written and hastily scribbled out to be replaced with "Be safe and good luck", but Jiraiya's heart still skipped several beats and he couldn't tear his eyes from those two and a half little letters above Tsunade's name. Naruto looked up at him, "Grandpa? You okay?" Jiraiya was silent and then Naruto poked him. Jiraiya promptly collapsed, leading Shizune to quickly check his vitals and declare that he was fine. When they rolled him over they saw that he was wearing the happiest smile any of them could ever remember seeing him wear. He had keeled over in a happy faint.

==Meanwhile, Hidden Sand==

Rasa ground his teeth as the council stripped him of his status as Kazekage. Not only were they doing that, he was being demoted to genin! _Those fools!_ He thought, _Do they really think they can even hope to stand up to Cloud and Stone without me? They'll have nothing left! I should just leave and let them lie in the bed they're making!_ He blinked, _There's an idea…_

 **AN:** _Yes, currently Gaara, Fuu, Himitsu and Kai are better fighters than any of the Leaf kids. However as stated repeatedly in this chapter, they're lacking on all other fronts. This will change very quickly and the playing field will level out rapidly as the Leaf kids start learning how their parents (adoptive or otherwise) fight and get stronger._

 _Yes Kakashi is still the Copy nin, the man with 1000 jutsu. However he only uses them in ways he's seen them used. He's a bit lacking on the creativity front, so as Anko pointed out, he typically only uses 1% of the potential of each of those 1000 jutsu in that he only uses each one a certain way when they each have multiple uses. He's rather like an inverse of canon Naruto who only has a handful of jutsu but can and does use them for anything and everything._

 _Yes Tsunade did almost sign her letter to Jiraiya "Love, Tsunade" which was more than enough to make Jiraiya faint with delight. Why you ask? Mimasu read Icha Icha and after hearing Tsunade's story realized that they were much the same except it went a different way with the Jiraiya character and the Tsunade character getting together. Upon reading them herself and realizing that they were little more than love letters to her disguised as smut, Tsunade's opinion of Jiraiya started softening and by this point she's at a tsundere relationship with him._

 _Yes, Shizune has returned to Konoha, and she'll be teaching Haku medical jutsu._

 _Yes, Rasa (the father of Gaara Temari and Kankuro) has been stripped of his position as Kazekage for losing Sand their Jinchuriki, and he will probably be going rogue._


	5. Chapter 4: Love and Life

Chapter 4 – Love and Life

==That Afternoon==

It's not that Kai had never been flattened before. Lord Mimasu did it regularly during training spars. So did Lady Tsunade and Kakuzu-sensei and all the other senseis.

What was _new_ was that he had been completely caught off guard by the flattening. He was normally very good at assessing an opponent's threat level. When Yumiko had shown up with a confident glint in her eyes and challenged him, he had assumed she had maybe learned some new jutsu, perhaps a lightning attack since that would counter his water and keep him from using his chain blades. It would've made fighting her a smidge more difficult but he and the others had been specifically trained to fight lightning wielding Cloud-nin.

Instead she had demolished him without a single attacking jutsu. She hadn't even used any _defensive_ jutsu, just evasion techniques! Now she was sitting on him with his arm bent behind him and his fingers pushed to an angle that prevented hand signs, and she had a kunai at his throat. Mitsy, Gaara, Fuu and all the rest were staring in shock. "Winner Yumiko!" Anko declared cheerfully.

Yumiko bounced off him cheerfully, her pride restored in full. Kai sat up, his eye twitching slightly, "How did you do that?" Yumiko grinned at him, "I fought like a shinobi." Kai started to say something then he paused. He thought about it. He thought about it some more. He nodded, "I see. We clearly have more to learn than I thought we did."

He picked himself up and bowed to Yumiko, "I would be honored if you would consent to go another round with me." Yumiko blinked and blushed slightly. She noticed Haku looking at her jealously out the corner of her eye and an idea came to her, "Actually, I think you should spar Haku. She can watch you to learn some water jutsu and you can see her Ice Release in action."

Kai pondered that for a moment and then nodded, "Very well." He turned to Haku, "Haku, would you care to go a round or two?" Haku blushed and then nodded. Yumiko felt slightly bad about it, Haku was probably the fastest of the Konoha 6, but she was also the least experienced in fighting.

Haku stepped into the ring and Kai said bluntly, "Now then, I hope you have gathered from my fights with Himitsu and Yumiko that I will not go easy on you just because you are a cute girl." Haku blinked. Yumiko blinked. Mitsy blinked. There was much blinking. Then Haku somehow ignited in flames, _"EXCUSE ME?!"_

Konan and Nagato swapped a glance, _Fire release?_ A split second later, Kai had been launched out of the ring with a large portion of his body on fire. Even as he was dousing himself with a Water Dragon jutsu that made the adults admire his ability for being able to use while he was on fire, Haku seemed to teleport forward and thrust her hand into the torrent, freezing it solid instantly.

There was another round of blinking, nobody had ever actually seen Haku get mad before. The silence was broken by Konan fist pumping, "WHOO! THAT'S MY GIRL!"

The look of fury marring Haku's beauty was gone in an instant as she snapped out of her rage. She blinked and looked around and then at the thoroughly frozen and stunned looking Kai. She clasped her hands over her mouth, "Oh! Did, did I do that?!"

There was considerably more blinking and then Naruto started laughing. Haku dissolved the ice holding Kai. She was blushing furiously and a startled "eep!" escaped her as the tree she had slammed Kai into collapsed. Kai sprawled over the stump backwards, thoroughly beaten with an odd grin and a curious number of hearts in his eyes, "I love Leaf women…"

Haku's blush returned in full as every guy present howled with laughter.

==Three Days Later==

Minato woke up in the middle of the night to the unpleasant sensation of Kushina crushing his hand. "Kushi? What's wrong?!" "Baby's here…" Minato bounced up and ran to get, "SHIZUNEEE!"

Everyone in the small cluster of houses was woken as Minato ran around howling for Shizune trying to remember which house she was staying in. Naruto walked down and caught Minato just as a great many doors were opening and everyone was rushing out. Naruto tugged his father's sleeve, "Dad, Shizune was on the couch." Minato froze and got very pale with embarrassment.

He started trying to laugh off the irritated glares. Then the ladies of the Leaf realized what had him so panicked, "The baby's here!" The Namikaze household was immediately full of women and one very nervous and panicky Minato who was quickly knocked out by Konan with a sleeping seal to the forehead. "This is his second time doing this right?" Anko asked. Yoshino nodded, "And he was just as panicky the first time."

Naruto stared at the door of his house, half asleep, then he walked over to Jiraiya yawning, "Grandpa, I'm sleeping on your couch tonight." Jiraiya nodded, "Sounds good." Not long after Jiraiya found himself wishing he had a sleeping seal. Kushina had one of the healthiest sets of lungs he had ever heard. _Nothing_ was sleeping well that night.

Dawn arrived six hours later with a baby in tow, and not long afterwards Konan peeled the sleeping seal off Minato. Minato bounced up still in panic mode only to see Kushina eyeing him with a tired but amused expression and a baby in each arm. Minato's jaw dropped, "Two?" Kushina extended three fingers and Minato almost fainted as Shizune handed him the youngest of the triplets.

Minato was speechless, but that didn't stop him from trying. After a few minutes trying breathlessly to get his excitement across to the other occupants of the room with giggles, gestures and an insanely happy expression, he just sat down and hugged his second daughter gently. Kushina suddenly waved her hair with chakra, "Ok, somebody go get Naruto and then everybody out while we come up with names!"

"On it!" Yumiko called cheerfully as she ran out pulling Sakura along behind her. They ran down the stairs and across to Jiraiya's house. Yumiko threw the door open without knocking and Sakura called, "Naruto! You've got siblings!" Naruto sat up, "Wha? Hey why am I at Grandpa's?" Yumiko sighed, caught Naruto by the back of the pajamas and dragged him off the couch, out the door and up the stairs to his parents' room, "Got him!"

She dropped him and headed back out, the other ladies following her, leaving the now considerably larger Namikaze family to themselves. Naruto sat up and looked around. It took him a second to recognize the bundles his parents were holding, but when he did he bounced up, "THREE?!" Minato and Kushina shushed him immediately, "They're sleeping."

Naruto nodded, "So who are my little brothers and sisters?" "One brother, two sisters," Minato said quietly, "We were expecting one girl, so we already had one name picked out." Kushina leaned down and gently kissed the little blonde bundle in her left arm, "This is Ryuko." She looked over at the little tuft of warm orange hair in her right arm, "We were thinking of naming your little brother after the Third Hokage. Counting you, he's the third oldest." Naruto grinned, "That's awesome! Lord Third was the toughest one behind Dad right?"

Minato laughed softly, "Hiruzen was a greater man than I've ever been." Naruto shook his head, "Nah, you're definitely the best. I still think it would be a good name for little brother though." Kushina smiled, "We'll have to send you to get Asuma so we can ask his blessing. It was his father's name after all." Naruto nodded, "Right." Then he turned to the little red head looking at him with curious blue eyes, "And who's this?"

"We were thinking Akatsuki, because she got here right at dawn," Minato said softly. Naruto grinned brightly, "Awesome." Then Naruto noticed something, "Hey, she doesn't have my whisker marks!" He bounced up to check his other two siblings and found that Ryuko had two on each cheek and the tentatively-named-Hiruzen had one on each cheek. Naruto reached up and ran his hands over his three, "Huh, it's like they count down in the order we got here. Weird."

Kushina shot Minato a look, "If I ever find a blonde with blue eyes and four whisker marks I'm going to clobber you." Minato looked at her like she was speaking gibberish, "Huh?"

==An Hour Later==

Naruto beamed from ear to ear as he stepped out of his parents' room with Ryuko in his arms, "Ok everybody, I'd like you to meet my little sister Ryuko!" Then Minato stepped out with the other two, "And my little brother Hiruzen _and_ my littlest sister Akatsuki!"


	6. Chapter 5: First Strike

**AN:** _First off, I am so sorry for going so long without an update. It's terrible, I'm utterly appalled that I let your wait go on that long and I'm going to try to keep it from happening again. To be perfectly honest, I thought I uploaded this at Halloween and I just realized it got missed when I was posting. I'm utterly mortified and deeply apologetic for this delay. Please enjoy this long overdue chapter._

Chapter 5 – First Strike

==NINE YEARS LATER==

Two masked figures strode through the forest in the snow-covered mountain valley. Both wore blank masks that covered their entire faces and long overcoats over form fitting dark gray clothes. The taller of the two had wavy jaw length black hair and wore a black mask and cloak with a half meter long black cylinder slung across her lower back. The smaller of the two had straight pink hair cut to about the same length and wore a dull red mask and cloak. Neither said a word as they approached the Hidden Cloud outpost.

The tower had once been a Hidden Leaf garrison, but after the Leaf Village fell the garrison had been slaughtered and the Land of Lightning had taken it over as part of their conquest. The Lands of Hotsprings, Rice Paddies and Frost had been assimilated into Lightning at the end of the Third War and were now the Land of Lightning and thus Hidden Cloud's territory, as was most of what had been North Eastern Fire Country along the border. The outpost wasn't big, but it _was_ one of only a small handful of fortifications held by Hidden Cloud in the Land of Fire. The Land of Lightning had numerous foot soldiers and samurai guarding various key points across the region to keep it under their control, but Hidden Cloud maintained a small handful of locations for the specific use of their shinobi. Such locations were key to maintaining the Land of Lightning's information and supply networks in the lands they had conquered as guarding supply lines and carrying information was mostly the work of shinobi.

When the tower was a thousand meters away, just as the Cloud Shinobi manning it noticed the two figures, the dark figure reached behind her to the cylinder on her back and tapped the ends of it, with her left she used her full palm, with her right she used only one finger. A very strong bow and an arrow with a shaft wrapped in seal tags popped from the end of the cylinder, and in an instant the dark woman had nocked, drawn and fired.

As the arrow leapt from the bowstring towards the tower, a sheath of wind chakra erupted from the first of the seal tags on it, hastening its progress and allowing it to punch straight through the stone wall of the tower. When the arrow passed through the wall, unhindered because of the wind chakra surrounding it, the second seal sensed the close proximity on all sides that indicated the arrow was penetrating its target and just as the arrow erupted from the inside of the wall, the second seal exploded, and the wind chakra surrounding the arrow fueled the explosion even further.

The two kunoichi suddenly disappeared in blasts of chakra smoke and snow as they rocketed forward, covering the distance to the freshly breached tower in an instant. As they landed the pink haired kunoichi twisted and launched a punch into the side of the tower, a seal on the back of her glove augmenting the already tremendous force of her strike tenfold and spreading it across the wall so that a hole ten feet in diameter was blown clean through it. The two kunoichi sprang through, heedless of the inferno raging inside the tower and set to work.

The black haired kunoichi snapped off five shots in as many seconds, her arrows wrapped in wind chakra punching through the walls and ceiling to set every room in the tower ablaze. As the stunned and injured Cloud Shinobi that had been in the front room scrambled to counter attack, the two kunoichi seemed to disappear in a swirl of flames. The first Cloud shinobi didn't even have time to raise an eyebrow in confusion before a kunai punched through his hitai-ate and the skull behind it before exploding. His splatter brained death was instant. The two next to him weren't so lucky as crimson serpents erupted from the kunai and leapt upon them, striking and sinking their fangs precisely into the frightened shinobi's carotid arteries. Those two had a brief moment of panic and pain before their deaths as the snakes disappeared, their work done.

The black haired kunoichi didn't even turn her head as she snapped off another shot into the burning shinobi stumbling through the demolished door. His death was quick, the wind wrapped broad head punching through his head and brain stem like they weren't there. The black haired kunoichi nodded to the pink haired one, "One more outside." Pink hair nodded and the two Body Flickered again, reappearing outside to confront the lone Cloud Chunin that had Body Flickered to the ground from the top of the short tower when he had spotted them.

The two kunoichi stiffened as they landed and got a good look at their opponent. "Who are you?" The black haired kunoichi asked in a deadly quiet voice. The young cloud chunin drew his swords, "I am Neko Nyuga, and I will kill you for what you have done to my comrades. _Byakugan!_ " The veins around his eyes suddenly bulged and his blades began to glow with lightning chakra, then he charged, "DIE!" He didn't even make it to the clone of the Black Haired kunoichi before the invisible original had shot him through the base of his skull and severed his spine.

The black haired kunoichi strode over angrily and flipped the body over to get a good look at him, actually pulling off her mask to make absolutely sure nothing obstructed her sight. "DAMN!" Yumiko hissed before sealing the corpse into a seal she pulled from the cylinder on her back and standing, "We need to get back and report this." "Are you alright?" Sakura asked with concern. Very few knew that Yumiko was very conscious of being the last Hyuga and it weighed heavily on her even though she'd never show it. Sakura was one of those few people, and she could tell this "Nyuga" had rattled and infuriated her big sister.

"I'm fine," Yumiko snapped in a tone that said she clearly wasn't as she put her mask back on, "Let's go. Someone may see the smoke." With another blast of chakra smoke and snow, they were gone. Nearby a small black bat took wing, silently and effortlessly tailing them despite their speed and the invisibility seals they activated mid-Body Flicker.

==Meanwhile==

The fort was impressive, there was no doubt about that. For an outpost it was extremely formidable even if it was rather underwhelming for a castle. The limestone outer walls were over seven meters high and over two meters thick, the gate was heavy metal reinforced oak, and there were watch towers at every corner of the immense square the outer walls formed. It had once been one of Konoha's regional command facilities, now it belonged to Hidden Cloud and served as one of their footholds to maintain their territory in the Land of Fire as well.

Naruto cracked his neck, his expression was inscrutable behind his coppery mask, but Shikamaru knew he was grinning with vicious excitement just like Kiba. "You both remember the plan?" Shikamaru asked tensely from behind his charcoal grey mask. This was their first mission in what was to be the Fourth World War, they couldn't afford any screw-ups.

"It's not that hard a plan to remember," Kiba replied from behind his dark brown mask. Naruto nodded, "Yeah, we got this." Shikamaru nodded, "Then let's go." Naruto nodded and threw a kunai high up into the air before disappearing in a flash of orange light. There were two more bursts of orange light as he teleported to his kunai twice and then he landed atop the fort's central keep. He flashed through a sequence of seals and then flipped up his mask, "Toad Oil Tsunami!" A flood of oil erupted from his briefly exposed mouth and drenched the fortress.

Even as the Cloud shinobi inside were beginning to worry about the smell of oil suddenly permeating the fortress, Naruto teleported back to his friends' sides and Shikamaru's shadow was rocketing forward and under the gate. Shikamaru changed his hand sign, "Path of Fire!" The chakra extending his shadow suddenly ignited, and the fortress was engulfed in flames immediately as the oil Naruto had drenched it with erupted in a deadly blaze a hundred meters high.

Kiba lowered himself into a crouch, "That's my cue! All Fours Jutsu!" His form immediately became lycanthropic and then he rushed the blaze before leaping and whirling in the air, "Tunneling Fang!" He dove into the earth and burrowed through it easily. A few moments later the burning fort collapsed as Kiba turned the stone beneath it to mud with his Swamp of the Underworld jutsu. Half an hour later the rubble had cooled enough that the three leaf nin could advance into the ruins and begin to search for the remains of the arsenal and garrison.

As they were advancing into the ruins a lightning charged blade suddenly lashed out and missed Naruto by a hair's breadth. Shikamaru's shadow snatched the Cloud nin instantly and paralyzed him, forcing him to hold perfectly still for Kiba and Naruto's unified uppercut to knock him out with sufficient force to pick his feet up six feet off the ground. "Kiba, are there any more?" Shikamaru asked quietly. Kiba glanced around and sniffed hard as he strained his ears, "They're using Silent Killing Technique if they are." "Concealing their chakra too," Naruto added as he reached out with his sensor abilities.

Shikamaru nodded, "Then let's make sure they're not." He and Kiba dropped to the ground as Shikamaru's shadow spread like water across the ruins of the fort, oozing into every nook and cranny as it fed on the darkness there and paralyzed anything that still drew breath. All except for Naruto. Naruto flipped through a quick set of seals and then his spiky waist length pony tail, so very reminiscent of his Grampy Jiraiya's, floated in the air and began to whistle with wind chakra. "Ninja art," Naruto intoned quietly, " _Tempest Needle Hell!_ " The wind imbued hair floating around him suddenly erupted in a hailstorm of deadly needles that perforated every inch of the ruins that didn't have a leaf shinobi on top of it.

After Naruto's assault let up, Kiba rose to his feet, "Holy crap, that guy's still alive…" Shikamaru got up as all three strode over to the downed shinobi and got a good look at his eyes. Their eyes widened in unison as they recognized the Byakugan glaring back at them. "Oh man…" "Troublesome." "Yumiko's gonna be PISSED."

==The Next Evening==

The tavern where the Leaf nin had agreed to meet was a large bustling establishment on the road which led from what had been the capitol of Hot Springs Country to the capitol of Fire Country. It was a small stone building with a thatched roof at a crossing of five roads, far from new and well known to all those who traveled those roads. The beginnings of a small village had begun to pop up around it in recent years as people started to figure out that it was a hub for travelers and move to set up shop. Naruto aged himself up a few years with transformation jutsu and rented a room for the evening before being shown to a room on the second floor by a teenaged girl with brown hair in buns who he couldn't help noticing seemed very interested in him.

By the time Naruto was closing the door behind him, Shikamaru and Kiba were tossing their captive through the window. As Shikamaru and Kiba climbed in after their hostage the girl poked her head back in, "Oh by the way do you…" She trailed off and her eyes widened as she took in the very irritated and very tied up Cloud shinobi and the three very uneasy looking young men surrounding him. The girl was quiet for a moment and then she smiled brightly at the Leaf shinobi, "My name's Tenten, tell me if you need absolutely anything, and if you interrogate that Cloud bastard make it hurt for me, his rat bastard friends killed my parents at the end of the war and burned my house to the ground."

She cheerfully closed the door and as the Leaf shinobi stared at the space where her head had been they heard her stroll off whistling cheerfully. "Oh I _like_ her," Naruto declared after a stunned minute. "Maybe we should see if she wants to be a kunoichi," Shikamaru drawled with an eyeroll, "Kami knows we don't have enough troublesome girls around."

"We wouldn't be so troublesome if you weren't so lazy," Temari replied as she slid in through the window, Kankuro hot on her heels. "Speak of the devil it's the queen of troublesomeness," Shikamaru grumbled. "Better not let your mother hear you say that," Temari replied with a cheeky grin, "She'd be very upset if she thought she had been dethroned." "Troublesome," Shikamaru grumbled. Kankuro flexed his fingers as he examined the Cloud shinobi and promptly began poking him with a mischievous smirk, "Ooh, got a prisoner! What's with the bag though? Is he really that ugly?"

"If he's like ours then they probably just don't want Yumiko to see him before they're ready," Fuu chirped as she climbed through the window, quickly followed by Gaara and a large blob of sandstone which had a shinobi frozen from the shoulders down inside it, narrowly alive and being carried by a floating cushion of sand as their white eyes flickered about behind the seal laced bag over their head. "We should probably put a sheet over ours now that I think about it," Gaara added.

"No need," Yumiko declared as she appeared out of thin air at the room's small table with Sakura. The entire room froze and Yumiko snapped her fingers, releasing a pulse of chakra and the seal holding the body of "Neko Nyuga". The body erupted out of the seal and collapsed with a thump to the floor. "We met one too," Yumiko said dryly, "And no, I'm _not_ pleased. However, since you were so good as to catch me some of these so called _Nyuga_ alive _,_ " she snarled the word with all the venom of an agitated cobra, "I'm going to interrogate them. Kankuro, get that bag off his head."

Kankuro removed the bag as instructed, decidedly nervous as he picked up loud and clear on Yumiko's extreme irritation. The long haired Nyuga blinked as his sight smell and hearing returned with the seals removed and then his eyes bugged out as he took in the very angry Yumiko in front of him, her Byakugan fully active. Yumiko didn't even say a word before slamming a kick into his nose to knock him flat and then planting a foot on his chest. She drew her tanto and activated the seal to elongate it into its katana form before slamming it into the ground next to her captive's head, her Byakugan boring into his as she asked in a deadly voice that steadily rose in volume until she was nearly shouting, "Who are you? What the hell is a Nyuga, and how does Hidden Cloud have shinobi with the Byakugan?! _WHO BETRAYED MY CLAN?!_ "

The long haired shinobi looked at her with shock and confusion before masking it with disdain, "My name is Heji Nyuga, first and strongest son of the Nyuga Clan. We are Hidden Cloud's newest clan and destined to be its greatest. We have betrayed no one." "You're really starting to piss me off," Yumiko told him with a dangerous grin. "Do what you want with me," Heji replied, "I won't talk." "Maybe you won't," Yumiko declared as her dangerous grin widened into something terrible and murderous, "But what about your little friend over there in the stone?"

Heji's eyes flickered over and his breath caught ever so slightly. Yumiko grinned, "Thought that might get your attention, Gaara, take off the sack, let's see if these two know each other." Gaara pulled the sack off and revealed a young girl who looked very similar to Heji. "Heji-nee-san?!" The girl asked in shock, "They caught you too?!" Yumiko propped an elbow up next to the girl's face on the edge of her stone coffin, "And I'm going to torture him in front of you until you tell me who is responsible for this "Nyuga Clan" and how many of you there are. Or you in front of him until he talks. I'll let you decide."

"Don't tell them anything Nanabi-chan!" Heji barked quickly. Yumiko's eyes seemed to glow with a particularly dangerous spark as she turned back to Heji, but before she could say anything there was a knock at the door. Yumiko glared at the door, her Byakugan seeing right through it to the young man on the other side, "He's a shinobi, not Cloud. Lots of chakra around his ears, he can probably hear us. If he can, he had better get in here before I put an arrow through him."

A young man with dark hair, yellow eyes and pointy ears in dark billowy clothes poked his head through the door, "Easy there feisty-pants. I come in peace, with answers." " _Feisty-pants?_ " Yumiko asked in a very dangerous voice. "My apologies for my impertinence Lady Hyuga," the young man said with a slight bow and smirk, "Hatsumei Fukusei, Jonin of the Hidden Sound Village and sworn enemy of the Nyuga Clan. Given your performance yesterday in demolishing that Hidden Cloud outpost and what I just overheard, I think we're going to get along very well."

 **AN:** _First off, yes, Temari and Kankuro have joined Konoha as well. How this happened will be gone into in more detail as we go along._

 _Second, sorry for the unexpected time skip, I just really didn't feel like going through nine years of preparations and training. Rest assured anything worthy of note will be visited in flashbacks or otherwise brought up and explained._


End file.
